The One Left Behind
by airflyer1996
Summary: A boy named Alex seeks revenge against Cinder Fall for the brutal murder of his family and the torture that he was put through. Join him as he interacts with other RWBY characters in his quest for revenge. However could his new "friends" help him get over his dark past?
1. Prologue

Alex was a decent sized boy who stood at around 6'1". He had short black hair and cat ears on top of his head. He also had a cat tail that extended from his lower back. He had a deep violet colored eyes that strongly resembled the slitted eyes of a cat. He wore a violet fedora along with a black suit and violet undershirt. He was by all means a very attractive person. However he had no time to deal with other people.

Alex Lace was used to being alone. He had been alone since his family was brutally murdered in front of him as a kid. Although he did not remember much of the incident, he did remember the woman who had murdered his family. At first glance you would believe that she was an elegant woman. However, one look into her cold merciless eyes would shatter that vision. Those eyes that haunted his dreams to this day. The eyes that held nothing but hatred and a cruel joy as she tortured him and left him to die.

Since that day Alex had only one thing on his mind. He wanted to kill the woman who had ruined his life. He would make the woman with the burning eyes suffer. He made it his life goal to make the bitch pay for the pain and anguish that she had caused his family. Alex had nothing to lose and all the skill needed to end what she started several years ago.

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**Hey guys this is the start of my first fan fiction. I will have the first chapter up soon.**


	2. Chapter 1

Alex was sitting quietly in the alley waiting to see if information he had gotten earlier was true. His cat ears twitched nervously on his head. He was staked outside of a dust shop waiting to see if Roman Torchwick would show up like he was told that he would. However, he had been waiting several hours already and was beginning to tire of just sitting around and doing nothing. He had resorted to sharpening his sword, Vindictus, to pass the time. His sword was long with a black hilt and a golden pheonix on the handle. He had always thought that his symbol of the golden pheonix reflected his situation well. Even when pushed to the brink of death he would rise again.

Eventually he heard footsteps coming down the road. When he looked up from his sword he saw Torchwick walking towards the shop with his cane. Alex decided to wait until after Roman had left the shop to confront him. Even though Roman had brought several of his thugs he would have no problem dispatching of them. After several minutes of Torchwick still being inside the store he wondered what could possibly be taking the robbery so long. As he continued to contemplate this further he heard the sound of glass shattering as two figures crashed through the window of the shop.

As he looked closer he saw the figure of a girl clad in red and black stand up over the unconscious body of one of Roman's lackeys. She seemed to be a couple of years younger than Alex. Suddenly the girl took out an enormous scythe. He could tell that the weapon was handcrafted from the details and the colors matched the girl's outfit. Soon many of the lackeys began charging at the girl in red. However, they were dispatched of quickly. This was the first time in a few years that he was vaguely impressed by someones combat skills.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw another one of Roman's lackeys on the top of a building ready to shoot the girl. Alex used his semblance of weapon transformation to change _Vindictus_ into the form of bow. With his semblance he was able to transform his weapon into any type of weapon that he had been trained in how to use. He focused and created an arrow from his own aura and pierced the man right between the eyes before he was able to get the shot off. The man dropped dead before he even knew what had happened.

Alex looked back to see that the girl had followed Torchwick up onto the roof of a building. He ran over to the ladder on the side of the building and made his way to the top of the building just as Roman jumped onto an aircraft carrier. Roman threw a dust crystal at the feet of the girl and shot at it with his cane. However, a woman came seemingly out of nowhere. The woman proceeded to hit the airship with a barrage of icicles. Then as it seemed the ship was about to be shot down a lady on the ship used fire dust to destroy the icicles. When Alex looked towards the lady his blood began to boil with rage. He recognized her as the lady who had killed his family. Alex vaulted into action as once again Vidictus had become a bow. He shot with deadly precision towards the woman on the ship. With his fifth shot he heard the satisfying sound of his arrow ripping through the muscle in the woman's shoulder as she let out a wail of agony. The airship sped off towards the skyline to escape. "Come back here you fucking bitch!" Alex yelled at the ship that was growing smaller by the second.

Alex knew that it would be pointless to try and follow the ship so he decided to give up on the pursuit for now. All he could do is watch it fly away. However, now he actually had a lead to find the woman again. Alex sighed in frustration and fell onto his back to take a rest. However, when he opened his eyes he saw another of eyes looking down at him. Reflexively Alex turned his weapon into a dagger and held it against the throat of the person standing above him. He would have killed the person had he not recognized that it was the girl in red. He removed the dagger and turned it back into a sword so he could stow it in his sheathe. He breathed a sigh of relief so that he would not have to kill again. No matter how may times he did it never got any easier.

"Sorry, you startled me" Alex said after putting his weapon away. "It's okay, I could have taken you if I had to" the girl said with a smile "My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose". "Nice to meet you" Alex said with a laugh. He realized that this may have been one of the very few times in the last few years that he actually laughed. "What's your name?" Ruby said out of curiosity. "My name is Alex Lace. Pleased to meet you." He replied.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. Did you know the woman on that ship" The other woman said for the first time.

"Yes... I did"

"How do you know her?"

"That's none of your business." He snapped with all the friendliness leaving his voice.

"I'm sorry for asking but I need to know"

"That woman killed my family in front of my eyes. Then she proceeded to torture me for several days before I was able to escape. That bitch will pay. I will take her life away from her like she did to my family."

The two girls could do nothing but stare at Alex. Glynda figured that the boy had known the woman,that she knew as Cinder,in some way when she saw him running after the ship. Even with her suspicions she was not expecting the answer that the boy gave. As she looked at the boy the only thing that she could notice was the hatred that burned in his eyes. Also, along with the hatred she could see a deep sadness that she could not even imagine. "I think you need to come with us" Glynda said after taking in this new information.

"I have no interest in coming with you. I need to get back to finding a way to make her pay." Alex said as he walked towards the edge of the building to leave.

"If you come with me to Beacon I can tell you more information on her. Such as her name for instance" This statement froze Alex in place. After a few seconds he turned with a look of determination on his face and replied "Show me the way"

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**Hey guys this is chapter one of my story I hope you all enjoy. Reviews are welcome. Follow and Favorite if you like**


	3. Chapter 2

Alex was filled with a sense that his long journey was about to come to an end. He was about to find out the name of the woman who had caused his life to fall into the ruin that it was. He would do anything to find out that woman's name. Here he was about to discover exactly what he had been looking for in the interrogation room that he had been escorted to by Glynda. However, since he had been put into the interrogation cell a few hours ago he had not been able to talk to anyone. At this point he was beyond frustrated. Alex got up and walked over to the mirror that was sure to have someone watching him from the other time. He began to violently pound on the mirror and said "Im tired of all this waiting. Get the fuck in here and tell me what I need to know.". A few moments later a man with short grey hair and glasses walked through the door carrying a coffee mug and a plate of cookies. The man gestured for Alex to sit at the chair across from him and offered him a plate of cookies.

"Do I really look like someone who wants your god damned cookies?" Alex said with a sneer.

"Perhaps not I suppose. What is your name son?" The man inquired.

"My name is Alex Lace," He said with a growing sense of restlessness "Look are you going to tell me what I want to know or am I just wasting my time here?"

"All in due time. I will tell you what you want to know but only if you attend my school at Beacon Academy." He replied in an irritatingly calm demeanor.

"I have no use in coming to your school. It would be neither beneficial to me or to you so I don't see why I would attend your school. Hell I don't even know who you are!"

"My name is Ozpin. Also it would be quite beneficial for me to keep an eye on you so that you dont ruin any plans we may have at apprehending the woman you are after."

"I could care less about your plans! All I want is the name of that bitch!" Alex angrily shouted at Ozpin

"Look you have two choices ahead of you young man. You can either enroll at Beacon and I will give you the information you want or I can notify the police that you are interfering with our investigation. It's your choice but I advise you to choose wisely. The Hunters are not an organization you want to make enemies with."

Alex was stuck and he knew it. He had one clear option that he had to take or risk jeopardizing his mission entirely. However, He was not thrilled with the option that was really his only real choice. He had to know the woman's name and he needed to avoid any interference by the police. However, he was not about to just submit to the orders of the man across from him. If he was going to do this then he would do it his way. "Fine, I will agree to attend your school under a few conditions. First, I will not be made part of any team. Second, you will share any and all information on that woman the minute you get it. Third, when the time comes to go after that bitch I will be part of the group that goes to get her.".

"I believe that I will be able to accommodate these requests," Ozpin said with a slight smirk on his face,"welcome to Beacon."

"Sure whatever just tell me that woman's name for Christ sake."

"Don't be to pushy. Before I tell you her name I need to know everything you know about her and the history that you two share."

"Fine. All I know is that she is planning something big. She has hired the help of Roman Torchwick and the White Fang for whatever her plan is. As for our history together there is not much to tell. At the age of seven she showed up in my hometown of Shadow's Haven with several of her henchmen and slaughtered the entire town. My father tried to fight back against them and for that we payed dearly. She took my family as prisoners and tortured us for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly my family began to die. My father died first after one of the torture sessions went a little bit to far. My mother was the next to go. She was distraught over the death of my father and she took her own life. Finally my sister was the last to go. She couldn't take the torture for any longer. She had always been a very fragile being. She just wanted the pain to end so one night she asked me if I would kill her. To save her from her fate I granted her request. She died at the hands of her own brother when I should have protected her in the first place! Soon after the woman came to my cell and took me to the middle of the woods. She told me 'Your entire family is dead and soon you will be to. You will be torn apart by the creatures of Grimm in this forest. With your death your family will cease to exist and nobody will care'. That was the last time I saw her until earlier tonight."

Ozpin listened to the story intently. He now understood where the feelings of the young man across from him were coming from. Alex had been through a lot and Ozpin couldn't blame him for his thirst for revenge. He could only imagine the pain that must have been caused by killing his own sister. There was no doubt that Alex had killed several other people in his quest for vengeance. Ozpin felt sorry that this kid had been through so much in so little amount of time. However, this kid could also be used as a weapon. From what Glynda had told him, the boy was the most remarkable fighter she had seen at such a young age. His unique semblence mixed with his faunus abilities could prove to be very useful. "Well now that I know what I needed to know I can officially say that you are enrolled as a student at Beacon"

"Yeah that's great and all but what the hell is the woman's name" Alex said with more than a little contempt in his voice.

"Ah yes, her name is Cinder Fall"

Just like that Alex felt as though a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He was yet another step closer to getting his revenge.

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**Hey guys sorry it has been so long since my last post. I may have gotten my computer taken away so I couldnt really write. However, I will be updating this more frequently. I hope you guys enjoy and leave some reviews on what I could do better. Also I went back and updated the chapters because I forgot to mention Alex is a Faunus. Also shout out to ttcroc1 for being the first person to follow this story.**


	4. Chapter 3

Alex was in a very foul mood. He had no choice but to attend this god forsaken school that only hindered his plans to move against Cinder. Not only did he have to attend the school but he was also going to be put under surveillance. He knew that there was no escape from the school unless he wanted to become a fugitive. With that he decided it would be best to be patient and see how things played out for him during his time at Beacon. If need be he could always get away from the school.

Alex was tired of sitting in the airship on his way to Beacon. He was tired of being surrounded by people who were all to happy to get to the school. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They were training to become warriors. They were training for a job that would inevitably lead them to a gruesome death. He knew all of these things from first hand experience. He was no stranger to the blood and sacrifice that was needed for battle. The kids around him were nothing but arrogant and blinded to what they had signed up for. The world has no happy endings only darkness and despair. However, they would learn the hard way just as he did. They always learn the same lesson in the end.

Alex was snapped out of his reverie as he heard someone scream enthusiastically "I'm so proud of you!". He turned his head to see who had screamed to find that a well built blonde woman in a brown jacket was hugging the girl in red, Ruby he recalled, that he had met the other day on the rooftop. He continued to observe the unfolding scene before him until a news broadcast was shown by a hologram in one of the windows. The news cast detailed the events of last nights robbery excluding anything about him or Ruby. 'Good the less people know who I am the better' Alex thought after the message had finished. Then a woman who he recognized as Glynda showed up on the screen to give a speech about becoming the protectors of the world of Remnant. He knew that the speech was sugar coated to detail only the good parts of being a hunter/huntress. He knew if the students knew the truth they would ru to their mothers. 'At least they have one' he thought bitterly to himself.

Alex walked off of the ship to see a blonde haired boy in armor throwing up in a waste basket. Alex chuckled to himself and kept walking by until he got to the front gate. That's when he heard someone scream "What do you think your doing". Alex looked over to see a girl in all white screaming at Ruby. He recognized the girl immediately as Weiss Schnee. He had seen her a few times when he was working for the Schnee Dust Company to earn a little money. Let's just say that the working environment had been less than satisfactory for the faunus. He saw a vial of dust roll by his foot. He picked it up with his tail and began to walk over to the shouting girl. However, when he got to the girl he realized that another girl in black had joined the fray. He took a moment to look at the newcomer. He noticed two things right off the bat. First, she was a cat faunus like him. Second, she was trying to hide the fact that she was a faunus. He didn't blame her. Being a faunus will usually keep you from being accepted. He never hid due to the fact that he didn't give a shit

"Weiss Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust company" the girl in black said.

"Finally some recognition"

"The same company known for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

"How dar- the nerve of you!"

Alex had heard the exchange and decided that he should intervene. "Actually the girl in black is right. its basically a living hell working for your company".

The three girls turned to the newcomer and stared for a few seconds after being caught off guard by his arrival. The girl in white recovered first.

"And who... are you?"

"I don't see where as that is any of your business but if you must know my name is Alex Lace."

"Who do you think you are criticizing one of the greatest companies ever established"

"An ex-employee actually" Alex said with a smug look on his face. It felt good to knock this brat off of her high horse.

"Hmph" the girl said indignantly as she turned and walked away. Alex watched as she left then turned to find that the girl in black had begun to walk away also. He decided that she was intriguing and decided to go after her leaving Ruby alone. Alex reached the girl in black after a few seconds and decided to start with the most obvious thing to him.

"I know that your a faunus" he said slyly as he walked up next to her. As soon as he had said it he was faced with a sword at his throat. However, he had been expecting this type of reaction and gave the girl a slight smile. She then realized that he had a dagger in his tail pointed directly at her heart. However, he had to give her credit. She was extremely fast and was probably a very good fighter. Although he knew that the level of skill and the fighting style that she had just shown him was not one that was taught in schools. He decided that she had probably once been involved with the White Fang. Slowly lowered the weapon and glared at him for a moment before speaking.

"So how did you figure it out"

"You could say that I'm quite observant. The way you walked was a sure sign that you were a cat faunus and the bow on your head twitched when you were talking about the Schnee Dust Company."

"Impressive" She said impassively.

"I also happen to know that you were probably once involved with the White Fang". At this she tensed and her eyes widened for a moment before she furrowed her eyebrows and growled at him "If you EVER mention that to anyone else then I swear I will make you pay". After that the girl walked off and left Alex alone. 'Well that went well'he thought as he made his way back to the school. He decided to skip the orientation and head straight to the dorm area where he found his dorm room that was big enough for four people. He decided to lay down in bed and get a good nap to forget the events of the day. He had no idea what may lay before him for the entirety of his time at this school but from what he had seen today he knew that it was going to be... interesting.

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The next few days were a blur for Alex. He had been told that some of the students had been put through intiation and were put into teams. He also learned that team RWBY would be staying next door to him. Although he did not speak to them he learned that the team consisted of Ruby Rose, Yang Shao Xiong, Weiss Shnee, and Blake Belladonna.

Alex was on his way to class when he was stopped by another student who was a few inches taller and wielded a mace. He was obviously trying to be intimidating but it wasnt working very well. "Faunus scum aren't welcome here" the boy said arrogantly. As Alex began to walk past him the boy made a very big mistake. "What kind of trash family is needed to raise a reject like you". Alex pulled a dagger from his waistband and pushed the blade up to the boys neck drawing a drop of blood. The boys eyes widened in fear as he realized what had happened.

"If you ever talk about my family in such a way again I will not hesitate to kill you and feed your corpse to the birds" Alex hissed at the boy. He removed the dagger from his neck and plunged it deep into the boys shoulder. The boy screamed in pain as Alex removed his dagger and walked to his class.

wen he entered the class the proffesor looked up to see who had entered the class so late. When his eyes fell on Alex he said "Nice of you to join us Mr. Lace. We were just about to have Ms. Schnee here fight against a creature of Grimm. However, I would like you to fight for punishment. Also none of us have seen you fight."

Alex reluctantly made his way up to the front of the class. When Professor Port opened the cage a Boarbatusk charged out of the gate towards Alex. He knew that he could easily defeat the creature. He had been born with not one but two semblences. He could transform his weapon to any weapon that he had currently mastered and he could teleport to anywhere that was within his eyesight. However, he decided it would not be wise to reveal so much about himself to these people. instead he decided to only show them one of his unique abilities. He observed the creature barreling towards him in a ball and noticed that the creature made a complete turn every half second. With the knowledge at his advantage he drew Vindictus from its sheath and slid towards the creature. At the last second he used his tail to boost his slide into a kick into the underside of the beast. As the beast spiraled into the air he transformed Vindictus into its bow form and shot three aura arrows into the beast's stomach.

The room was filled with absolute silence for several seconds. They were all staring at Alex as they realized that he has a black aura that had enveloped his body. They had never seen anyone take out a Grimm so fast and with so much precision. The entire encounter lasted for no longer than 5 seconds. "Is that all or can I sit down now" Alex said not trying to hide the contempt in his voice.

"Yes that will do class is dismissed" The teacher said dumbfounded.

As Alex walked out of the classroom he was met with a blur of red. He noticed that ruby was now standing in front of him with her entire team behind her. "How did you do that?"she asked curiously.

"Do what?"

"How did you handle that Grimm so easily?"

"Experience" Alex said with a sigh as the memories of the constant killing that had defined his life flickered through his head. The girls must have noticed the look in his eyes.

"Are you alright" Blake said after she saw the look in his eyes. She knew that look because she knew exactly what he waas feeling. She knew what the look of pain and sorrow looked like.

"I'm fine" he said snapping out of his memories

"What team are you on?" Ruby asked, "I never see you with them?"

"I don't have a team" Alex replied coldly

"Why not?"

"The more you get attached to someone the more weakness you have and the harder it is to lose them". Without saying anymore he walked past them and headed for his dorm room.

**Hey guys I hope you like this chapter. Please leave some reviews of what I need to do better or the things that I am doing right. They are always appreciated. Also I want to add a new OC character to the story but I want you guys to come up with the character. The format is below. Best idea wins.**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Weapon:**

**Semblence:**

**Race (Human or Faunus):(If Faunus what type)**

**Background:**

**Personality:**

**Clothing:**


	5. Chapter 4

Alex truly hated mornings. He had always guessed that was due to his faunus inheritance. Cats sleep for almost the entire day as a matter of fact. At this point he wished that he could too. However, he was awoken by a quick, timid knock on the door. If not for his faunus abilities he probably wouldn't have picked up on the noise at all. He looked over to the alarm clock that was on his bed side table to see that it was 5:00 in the morning. He swiftly got up and threw on a pair of pants. Begrudgingly he walked over and opened the door. As soon as the door had opened a quick flash of red shot through his field of view as three other girls walked into his dorm. He sighed as he closed the door to look back at a far too energetic girl in red. "What do you want Ruby? It's too damn early for this."

Ruby simply stared at the boy. She had never seen the boy without his shirt on and she was shocked at what she saw. His body was covered in brutal scars. He had a numerous amount of what looked to be scars from a knife across his chest. However what caught her eye the most was the jagged scar that ran from his collarbone across his chest and down to his stomach. 'What the hell could have caused that she thought to herself.

"I thought you might like somebody to talk to"

"Now why would I want to do that?" Alex asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Because you seemed kind of upset yesterday." She beamed at him clearly happy that she had picked up on his emotions

"Im fine now would you ple-"

"Don't lie to me I know when someone is in pain," Her expression faltered and grew more stern as she spoke those words "Whatever is troubling you can't be that bad".

"You have no idea" He simply stated as he turned away from the group.

Ruby used her semblance and flashed in front of him. "Look I know that sometimes things can be too hard to handle by yourself. When my mother died I nearly closed out anyone who had been close to me. If it weren't for Yang I don't know what would have happened to me. Maybe you could talk to your family like I was able to talk to mine".

As soon as she was finished with her speech she wished she could take it back. She realized that she had hit a nerve in Alex that was extremely sensitive. A look of immense pain flashed over his face that chilled her to her very core. His words after class yesterday came rushing back to her as she finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. She saw that he was trying his hardest not to cry as he took a deep breath.

"Get out" Alex said almost to quiet to hear.

"But I-"

"I said GET OUT" He growled a the young girl. He turned to the other girls in the room and yelled "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Team RWBY made their way out of the room and heard the door slam behind them. They made their way over to their own room and all of them went to their respective beds and laid down. Ruby was upset with herself 'I should have been more careful with what I said. I should have known' she continued to berate herself. Blake seemed to realize what her young leader was thinking.

"It wasn't your fault Ruby. There is no way that you could have known. I just wonder what happened to him to scar him so badly both mentally and physically."

"Whatever it was I'm not so sure I want to find out" The heiress added who was obviously shaken from the incident. Ruby wasn't sure she wanted to know either. She had never seen Weiss show much of any emotion let alone being shaken this badly. With that the girls fell into silence as they prepared for the upcoming day.

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Alex slammed the door behind the girls and the tears slowly ran down his face as he thought about the family that he had once treasured. He had tried to hold back so many memories over the years but they came rushing back when Ruby had made her comments. He knew she had meant no harm and felt guilt over yelling at the small girl. She was only trying to help him but he couldn't handle what she had said. Honestly who could blame him. He walked over to his bed and pulled out a picture of his family from under his mattress as he tried to remember the good times that he had spent with them.

_Alex was running through the woods behind his house as his sister, Sarah, ran closely behind him as they played a game of tag. eventually he let the younger girl catch him and they fell to the ground laughing. "You're the best big brother ever" she said between giggles as he smiled lovingly at his little sister. "And you're the best little sister I could ask for. I swear I will always be there to protect you."_

Alex had made a promise that he thought he could keep. It turns out that he was dead wrong and he hated himself for it since that day. He had tried his hardest to protect what he loved the most but it was to no avail. He chuckled to himself sadly at the irony of his promise. Not only had he failed to protect her but he had been the one who killed her.

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Alex made his way to class and sat in the back of the classroom. He had noticed that team RWBY would send a quick glance his way every couple of minutes. He figured they were probably talking about what had happened. He wished he could get away from the stares that he was getting. His wish came true when the professor looked down at his scroll and informed him that Ozpin wanted to meet with him.

As he entered the room Ozpin motioned for him to sit down. "We have a new lead in our investigation," He started, "We have been informed that one of Cinder's associates have planned a robbery at a dust shop in downtown Vale. We would like you to intervene. We also request that you leave the man alive. He is no good to us dead. You may assemble a team to help you on this mission. I suggest that you choose your comrades wisely."

"No, I will do the mission alone. I don't need anyone getting in my way. I have always worked better alone and I would like to keep it that way."

"I figured you would say that however, school rules state that no mission can be accepted by a single person. You must at least have a partner go with you for assistance. In fact I have provided someone who will be sent with you as a partner. Send her in." He spoke into the speaker on his desk.

As the door opened he turned around to see none other than Ruby Rose.

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**Hey Guys I hope you like this chapter. Favorite and Follow if you want to. Also Reviews are greatly appreciated. I may try to get another chapter out tonight but we will see. Also I wanted to know what you guys think about the chapter length. The OC contest is still open so either send me a pm of the character or leave it in a review**


	6. Chapter 5

As he sat on the airship headed towards the city of Vale Alex wondered why he had to be so unlucky. He was paired up with the girl he had basically flipped out on earlier that morning. He just wanted to work by himself as he had always done in the past. He wondered why Ozpin even cared about the rules at all. Alex was just barely a student in the first place. Since he had made it to Beacon he had barely attended classes and he didn't even have a team. He pondered all this as he took in the awkward energy between the two temporary partners. The usual red ball of energy was no longer very hyper and was rather reserved. He knew he should probably apologize but he really didn't care. If anything, Ruby hating him would probably be a good thing. It sure as hell would make his life a lot easier without somebody prying into his business.

The aircraft reached the landing bay and the two students exited into the massive city that was Vale. As they had begun walking towards their destination he realized that the young leader kept glancing at him. He wondered briefly why she would be glancing at him in the first place. Could it be sympathy? He hoped that was not what it was. He absolutely hated sympathy. Sympathy only led to pity. After several minutes of not so subtle looks from the girl in red he had finally had enough. "What do you want"

"N-Nothing, Nothing at all" Ruby stuttered out. 'Well she's obviously lying but if I can avoid a conversation I'll go with it'. After several more minutes of walking they had finally reached their destination granted that they were probably several hours early since the sun hadn't even set yet. Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the name of the store. He wondered where they had gotten the idea to name the store "Dust and Stuff". He pulled _Vindictus_ out of its sheathe and began to sharpen the blade. As long as he had his sword Alex had always felt safe. He had made it himself when he had worked as a shop hand to a blacksmith several years ago. He only discovered his semblance after he had the idea of how cool it would be if it could turn into a bow. Imagine his shock when his sword actually obeyed his wishes and transformed. He was glad to have such a reliable weapon when he was in a battle. However, his sword also brought back some of the memories of his family. Every time he looked at the family crest of the hilt of the blade he remembers the faces of his late family but it also reminds him of the reason that he fights. Alex looked over to the girl on his right to see why she hadn't let out a single peep for the last ten minutes only to see she had a similar idea. She was polishing off her weapon Crescent Rose. Alex may not have liked having a partner but at least he was paired with somebody who was competent. He had heard of the incident with the Nevermore during initiation. He was also impressed with the skills that the girl had presented during combat class at Beacon. When she had used her semblance of speed he had wondered if she also shared his semblance of teleportation. He only understood after it had been explained to him. He began to wonder what it would be like if he were to befriend the girl who was sitting beside him. He figured that she was friendly enough and seemed to care about his well being. No sooner had those thoughts hit him had he started to scold himself. He knew that friends only pulled you down. Friends were a weakness that enemies could hold against you. One thing that Alex had plenty of was enemies.

After a few hours of sitting in the alley the sun was almost over the horizon. That's when Alex heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the street. He looked out of the alley to see a group of around twenty men. They seemed to be led by a man who had snow white hair and was wearing a green blazer. The man also had two swords strapped to his back. Alex stepped out of the alley followed closely by Ruby. The group of men stopped before the man in green began to speak. "And who might you be?"

"That's really of no concern to you. I'm going to give you one chance to surrender and come with us quietly. otherwise my friend and I have been given the permission to use "other" methods"

"Please, what could two young kids do to us. Dispose of the kids so we can get this operation under way".

With that the group of men charged ready to kill the kids. Alex drew _Vindictus_ and ran at the group of men. Alex rolled under the slash of a sword and retaliated by slicing off the man's hand. He had time to register the scream before another man came running at him. He jumped into the air and spun into a kick that landed on the thugs neck. He instantly heard the sound of the man's neck break under the heel of his shoe. The lifeless body of the man dropped to the floor with a thud. He turned his sword into its bow form. The first two arrows pierced the hearts of their targets. The next arrow skewered the heads of two of the other men. Alex ran through the group with his sword as each swing would land on its target. Soon he was surrounded by blood and corpses. He looked over to see how his partner was fairing. He saw that she had taken out all of her targets except for two. As she fended off the man in front of her she had not noticed that the man behind her was already in mid swing of what would be a fatal blow. 'This is gonna hurt' Alex thought as he teleported in between the girl and her attacker. He felt the pain as the man's sword sank deep into his left shoulder. Alex swung his sword with his right arm and decapitated the man where he stood. Ruby having finished the other thug off turned to see the scene that had unfolded. However, Alex had no time to chat as he knew that the job was not over. He walked over to the man in green who stood in shock.

"Now do you want to end up like your friend or do you want to surrender peacefully?" Alex inquired through gritted teeth ever aware of the blood that was seeping through his newly acquired wound.

"Fine I give. Just don't kill me" The man begged for his life

"Good choice" Alex sneered as he knocked the man out with the blunt edge of his sword.

Alex fell to the ground as more blood continued to run from the slice in his shoulder. The last thing that her heard before losing consciousness was the sound of an airship landing behind him.

* * *

Ruby was distraught. She was in the waiting room of Beacon's medical center as she waited to see if Alex would be alright. She was extremely grateful that he had blocked a blow that was obviously meant for her. On the other hand she was angry that she had not seen the strike coming. If she would have just payed attention then none of this would have happened. She was also confused on how he had been able to intervene with the strike. She had seen him across the street just a few seconds before he was right behind her. There had been so much blood that she was sure that there was no way that he would be able to survive. It seemed as if there was just a fountain of blood pouring from the poor boy. She sat in her chair as the door opened and her team entered the room. She was grateful that her team was there to support her. She also realized that Alex had nobody that would support him and she realized how lonely the boy must be.

"Ruby are you alright? What happened?" Yang asked in concern.

"I'm fine but Alex isn't. He took a sword to the shoulder to protect me. It was my fault that he got injured and it's my fault that he might die." She said as she started to break down into hysterics

Yang sat down next to her sister and pulled her into a hug. She rubbed her hand down the younger sister's back and slowly coaxed the girl into calming down. Ruby slumped into her sister's shoulder and sobbed at the thought of causing somebody's death. Sure Alex was a bit callus but he seemed to be a pretty good person. He had even stood up to Cardin when he was picking on Velvet in the cafeteria. He was also selfless enough to put his life on the line for a girl that he barely knew. The door to the emergency room door opened up and the attending nurse walked out towards the group of girls in the waiting room.

"We've done all we can for the boy now. He's still in a very fragile condition. It's up to him whether he lives. If he does end up overcoming his injury and survives then he will only have 75% mobility in his left arm."

"Can we visit him?" Ruby implored

"Yes but you can't disrupt his sleep. You must let the boy recover"

When Ruby entered the room where Alex slept she felt a pang of guilt as she saw the bandages on Alex's shoulder. She sat down in the chair next to his bed and decided to stay with him until the boy had recovered. She was surprised when her teammates also stayed in the room with her. She stayed in the room for several hours mulling over the events of the night before she laid her head on the bed and drifted into a slumber.

* * *

Alex awoke to a pain in his shoulder and wondered what had happened. As he looked around the room that he was in the memories from the night before came flooding back to him. He remembered the sword that cut through his shoulder. Although, He was quite pleased that he was able to apprehend his target. He looked to his right to see that Team RWBY were sleeping next to his bed. Blake and Yang were leaning against each other holding each other's hands. Weiss was leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and had her trademark scowl on her face. When he looked down he realized that Ruby had her head on his bed and she had her hand over his. He briefly remembered how good it felt to have somebody who actually cared about you. He also realized that he may have unwillingly made a few new friends. He knew that it could possibly end badly but he decided that he could live with a few new friends. He removed his hand from underneath Ruby's and stretched his arms above his head. To his surprise he was unable to lift his left arm very far above his head. He figured that was probably due to the injury. Alex got out of bed and made his way over to a table on the other side of the room. On the table he found a pair of his black jeans and a purple button up shirt that was one of the few belongings that he had brought with him to Beacon. He got dressed in his clothes, granted it was much harder to put his shirt on, and he wondered how they had gotten into his room to get his clothes but decided he really didn't care.

He made his way back over to the bed and laid back down to rest. He was happy for once that he had gotten one step closer to his goal of revenge. Even if he was injured he knew that this was nothing compared to what Cinder would be feeling when he finally caught up to her. He laid in his bed and was excited to hear what the man he had caught had to say about Cinder. A few minutes later he realized that Ruby had begun to stir from her sleep. She woke up and looked over to Alex.

"Alex you're awake!" She practically screamed. Her outburst effectively woke her fellow teammates up. Weiss began to chew her leader out for yelling in the hospital while Yang and Blake blushed as they realized that they were holding hands. Ruby ignored the annoyed heiress and instead turned her attention to Alex. "Are you alright? How do you feel? Do you need anything?" She kept shooting off several questions until Alex held up his hand telling her to stop.

"I'm fine. I feel pretty good excluding the pain in my shoulder and the fact that I can't raise my arm very far above my head."

She seemed to flush as he mentioned his injuries and she said "I'm so sorry. If I had been paying attention you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm so so so so sorry!" She rambled as her eyes began to get watery.

"It's fine the wound should heal fine and I barely use my left arm anyway. Anyway how long have I been out and why are you girls here?"

"You were out for two days and we are here because that's what friends do." Ruby said enthusiastically.

"Look I'm flattered that you would stay here and watch over me but you don't want to be my friend. I have killed a lot of people and I have made a lot of enemies over the past couple of years. Getting involved with me will only put you in danger."

"Nonsense. Everybody needs friends. You can say that you don't all you want but you can't change my mind."

Alex was surprised at the girls response. Never had he met somebody as innocent as the girl before him. She had the clearest set of morals that he had ever seen in his life. "Fine I can see I wont be able to convince you otherwise so I might as well accept your friendship"

"Good now then I have a question for you. How were you able to cover so much ground to block that guy's blade? I thought that you may have used a semblance but we already know what your semblance is after we watched your battle with the Borbatusk."

Alex sighed knowing that there was no way that he would be able to lie his way out of this one "I was hoping that you didn't notice but I guess I will have to tell you. However, you must promise to never tell anyone else what I am about to tell you. Not even the professors." The girls nodded and he continued "You are correct that I have showed you my semblance. However, for some reason I was born with two semblances. I had always been able to teleport since I was a small child. Only a couple years ago did I realize that I was able to transform my weapon into whatever weapon I had been trained to use. I have no idea why I have more than one but nonetheless I do."

"I've never heard of anything like that. prove that what you're saying isn't a lie." The ice princess said. He didn't blame her. He wouldn't believe it if he was in her position either. He decided he would have a bit of fun and popped up behind the heiress.

"Boo" he whispered into the girls ear. She screamed as she shot out of her chair. The rest of the group laughed including him. He had forgotten how fun it could be to laugh and play around in the years since the attack on his village. He rather enjoyed the feeling. "Ok now that I have showed you that I'm not lying I would very much like to rest a little more" He said as he popped back into his bed. He had no idea what the future held for him but he was excited to see where it would lead. For once his future looked bright.

* * *

**Hey guys I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter. I think that I will begin making all of my chapters around this length. Also remember that the OC contest is still active. Follow and favorite if you would like to also Reviews would be greatly appreciated. I want to hear your ideas and what I could do to make my story better. The OC template is down below. PM or leave the template in a review.**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Race:**

**Orientation:**

**Semblance:**

**Background:**

**Appearance:**

**Personality:**

**Weapon:**


	7. Chapter 6

Alex was walking in downtown Vale with Team RWBY. Granted he had basically been forced to go with them. He had tried to ignore the knock on his door but the little red terror would not give up. He had waited for her to go away for a full five minutes but she would not let up. Now he was actually having a somewhat good time. He had been in town for hours as the girls went shopping. Eventually the group found themselves at the docks where students were supposed to be coming from all around for the tournament that would be held six months from now. Soon they heard the sounds of yelling coming from a recently docked boat. Alex looked over to see a boy with blonde hair a monkey tail and a white button up shirt jump off the side of the boat. Granted the boy didn't seem to know how to use the buttons on his shirt because it was completely unbuttoned. As the boy ran past he gave a wink at Blake. Alex smirked when he saw Blake's bow twitch on top of her head. Weiss had been wanting to scout the competition in the upcoming moths so she gave chase to the faunus boy. However, as they turned the corner Weiss ran into a ginger haired girl. He didn't really pay much attention to the conversation as he tried to remember why the faunus boy had looked so familiar. As they walked away from the girl team RWBY was talking about the weird personality of that girl. Out of nowhere the ginger haired girl appeared in front of the group again. "What did you call me"

"Uh I'm sorry I didn't realize-" Yang said awkwardly as she believed she had been caught making fun of the girl.

"Not you... you" she said closing in on Ruby

"I um... I don't"

"You called me friend. Am I really your friend."

"Um... Sure" Ruby said despite her teams protests.

Honestly Alex had tuned out the conversation after that because he had not found it very interesting. He stayed in his daze for a while longer until he heard Weiss begin to speak.

"Have you seen this boy" She asked as she held up a very crude drawing of the faunus from earlier. "The filthy degenerate that ran by earlier"

"Stop saying that! Stop saying he's a rapscallion. Stop saying he's a degenerate." Blake cried outraged at the heiress' comments

"I'm sorry would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can or the fire hydrant as a fire hydrant"

Alex was starting to get quite angry. He was no stranger to the discrimination of humans toward the faunus. However, he had never seen someone so blatantly disrespect him in front of his face. "I'm sorry but would you like to repeat that" Alex growled at the heiress.

"What- no I mean I wasn't talking about you" She tried to apologize

"You know what I don't wanna hear it" Alex said as he wheeled around to walk off. He sent a glance at Blake as he walked off trying to apologize for leaving the faunus girl alone to deal with the arrogant ice princess. He was already several yards down the street before Ruby caught up to him. "You know she didn't mean to hurt you right?"

"The hell she didn't. She disrespected me to my face."

"She wasn't talking about you though." She tried to reason to him.

"I don't care if she wasn't talking about me. She thinks that being a faunus automatically puts me at a disadvantage. Look I'm not the only one in our group who takes that issue personally. Remember you should be careful what you say around people when you don't know everything about them."

He walked away before Ruby was able to ask him what he had meant.

* * *

After the incident down in Vale he had went back to his dorm room. He was still angry about the comments that were made earlier in the day but for a different reason than one might think. He had never really cared if he was looked down upon due to his faunus heritage. However, he was mad that the heiress had so blatantly hurt one of her own teammates without even knowing it. He felt bad for leaving Blake alone to deal with Weiss. He had heard yelling from the room next to his for quite some time now and wondered whether or not he should intervene. He was saved from making that decision when the yelling stopped and he heard a door open and slam shut. A few seconds later he heard a knock on his door. He opened it to see Ruby with tears in her eyes. He ushered her into the room and asked her what was wrong.

"Blake ran away" She said between sobs as she wrapped her arms around Alex. He stood there for a few seconds unsure of what he should do. He was not very experienced when it came to human contact. He awkwardly began to rub and pat the girls back. "It's okay she will come back. I'm sure of it. Although I'm not surprised she ran off. I'm sure she was mad that Weiss thought of her as a lesser person."

"Wait what do you mean?"

"Really you haven't figured it out yet. I thought for sure that you would have put the pieces together by now. Blake is a faunus."

"WHAT? How do you know that?" She asked as she pushed away from the boy.

"Faunus are exceptionally skilled at recognizing there own kind. I knew within seconds of meeting her but she asked me not to tell anybody."

"How could you not tell us?!"

"Look I know how it feels to be betrayed by somebody. Its not a good feeling."

With that the girl in red was quiet for a few seconds knowing that she had reached a dangerous area in the conversation. Instead of continuing down that path of conversation she decided to change the subject. "Well then the least you could do is help search for her with me."

"Fine let me get around and I will help you find her."

* * *

They had been walking for several hours and had found no signs of the black clad huntress. "Look I think that we really need to call it a night. Blake can take care of herself for a while. Plus we will be no help to her if we are half asleep. I'm going to get a hotel room here in the city for the night. You can go back to be the academy with your team."

"Actually my team is probably asleep so I don't really want to wake them up. So uh- you know. m-maybe I could- well." she stuttered trying to complete her sentence.

"Fine you can stay with me tonight" Alex said rather reluctantly. He was hoping to be able to gather information tonight after she left. After they made it to the hotel they made their way into the room. "Okay well goodnight" Alex said making his way over to his bed.

"Wait I was hoping we could watch a movie before we went to sleep". With a sigh of exasperation Alex agreed to watch a movie. They both sat on the bed that was in front of the TV. Ruby told him that the movie was about two teams of soldiers who fought over flags in the middle of a canyon. He had only been watching the movie for a few minutes before he fell back in the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Alex awoke feeling refreshed. He looked over to the table and saw that it was currently 4:00 in the morning. He noticed that there was a pressure pushing down on his chest. He looked down to see the cause of the pressure to find Ruby with her arm thrown across his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. Alex blushed as he slowly got out of bed. He was careful not to wake her up as he walked towards the door. He slipped out of the room and made his way to a local bar. He entered the bar and made his way over to the counter and ordered a Jack and Coke. "So Gabe have you heard of anything interesting going on lately." Alex asked his long time acquaintance. He had come to this bar several times hoping to find any information he could.

"Well I did hear about a supposed plan to rob a huge shipment of dust coming in from the Schnee Dust Company. Heard some guy named Torchwick is running the operation."

"Thanks Gabe" Alex said slipping the man 20 Lien "Now give me another drink and I'll be on my way"

Alex made it back to the hotel after he finished his drink. He opened the door to see a frantic Ruby searching under the bed. "Um... What are you doing?"

Ruby snapped her head up from her search and glared at him. "Where were you! I woke up and you weren't here and I panicked. You could have been dead for all I knew. I don't want to lose anyone else. We may have already lost Blake" She said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Woah calm down Ruby I'm right here. Don't worry we'll find Blake."

"Why do you smell like alcohol"

"I went out to the bar to get some information so I got a few drinks" Alex said nonchalantly

"What! You shouldn't be drinking"

"So what if I do. Why do you care?"

"I'm your friend and I care about your health. That stuff is bad for you?"

"Look as long as it helps me forget I don't give a shit!" He yelled and threw himself onto the nearby bed. At that Ruby seemed to get less angry and seemed to be sympathetic.

"Tell me what happened to you. You can trust me I'm a friend"

Alex thought about whether he should tell her or not. He wanted to be able to trust her but he had been betrayed so many times in the past. She may be his first actual friend and damn was she cute but he still didn't know what he should do. He laid his head back on his pillow and decided he might as well tell the girl his story.

"Well I had a pretty normal childhood at first. I lived with my mom and dad and my little sister Sarah. She was such a nice pure-hearted girl. We used to play together in the fields by our house. Then one day a lady showed up with several thugs and attacked the village. She burned down the entire village but my father tried to fight back. He stood a good fight but he was captured. Then the lady came and captured the rest of my family. We were kept in her prison for what was probably around a month. My father was the first to die. They went overboard when they tortured him and he passed away. Then my mother killed herself in front of me and my sister. That's when they started to come after us. I would volunteer to take her place when they wanted to torture her. I have several scars on my chest and back to prove it. Then my sister broke down. She couldn't take it anymore. She asked me to free her from the pain. So to save my sister I-I, Oh god I'm so sorry!" He said as he began to break down.

Ruby sat down on the bed and tried to comfort the boy who was in hysterics. She had figured that the boy had a bad background but she would have never guessed it was that bad. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been on a kid who was barely older than a child. She was used to him being so calm and emotionless. She had never seen Alex in this state. She had wanted to hear his story since she discovered that she had feelings for him. He may have been cold at first but she saw that he was kind and caring. Not to mention he was extremely attractive. She looked down to see that he had curled up and fallen asleep. She laid down next to the boy and wrapped her arms around him as she fell into a slumber.

* * *

**Hey guys I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm thinking of keeping the OC contest open for one more chapter so put in your submissions. Favorite and follow if you liked and reviews are appreciated. I may have to go on a hiatus for an indefinite amount of time due to personal issues but the story WILL continue**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys sorry for the delay on the chapter. Also the contest is now closed for the OC character. I may have another one later in the story. Congratulations to... Nah I'm not telling you yet. The character will make an appearance in this chapter. Hope you enjoy**

* * *

Alex woke up with a minor headache from the few drinks that he had the night before. He barely noticed the pain as he thought about the events of the nights before. He was terrified that he had told Ruby about his past. He knew that it was a bad idea that he had trusted Ruby. He didn't know if he could handle losing anyone that he trusted again. He also knew that he couldn't live the rest of his life by himself. Alex laid there for several minutes before he realized that Ruby's arm was wrapped around him. He liked the feeling of being close to somebody but it also filled him with dread. Alex lightly lifted Ruby's arm off of him as he quietly slipped out of bed. Alex walked over to the bathroom and decided to wash off from the day before. He stood under the steaming hot shower and enjoyed the way it felt on his skin. After several minutes standing under the water he shut off the valve and stepped out of the shower. Alex dressed up in black jeans and a purple shirt with a saying that made no sense to him. Why would you make a shirt that says People Like Grapes?

Alex stepped out of the bathroom just as Ruby began to stir from her sleep. "Gooooood Morning?" The girl said with her usual peppy and energetic attitude. He laughed at how she always seemed to be happy and upbeat even in situations that were negative. Even when she had no idea where one of her teammates were she still remained positive. "I don't know why but that may have been one of the most comfortable nights of sleep ever". She seemed to ponder what had made her sleep so great when she began to blush furiously. Alex chuckled to himself but decided not to address the matter any further.

"I think we should get checked out and continue our search. Also you should probably call your team and let them know your'e fine. After all it is around 2:00"

"Oh yeah that's probably a good idea"

* * *

After quite a hours of searching they still turned up empty handed. He had begun to give up on the search until he heard an explosion behind him. He turned to see a plume of smoke slowly rising from the docks. "Grab my hand and hold on tight" Alex said to Ruby. Ruby took his hand and he used his semblance to get them onto one of the crates. Ruby yelled out to Roman as he was about to shoot the faunus boy from a few days ago. Alex scolded Ruby and told her it was better to use the element of surprise. As the girl's head was turned she was hit by a dust shot from Torchwick's cane. Alex panicked as he saw Ruby drop in front of his eyes. He would not lose someone that was close to him again. He moved over to Ruby's side to examine her wounds. He was relieved to find that her wounds were minimal and he healed them with his aura but the girl remained unconscious. Alex was pissed that someone that he cared for was hurt so he decided to take his anger out on the bastards that did it. Alex flashed (Teleported I will also use ported so I don't have to write teleport every time) into a group of White Fang lackeys and went to work. As the first thug swung his sword at him Alex jumped and landed on the sword's hilt. He brought his heel into the mans jaw. He drew _Vindictus _from its sheathe and came down on another man with an overhead strike. The sword implanted itself into the man's head. He ported behind another faunus and shoved his sword into his back and twisted effectively severed his spine. He changed his sword into duel pistols and put bullets in the heads of two other men. He then shot the suspension cable that held a storage crate above the ground and crushed another group of soldiers. He looked over to see Torchwick trying to make a getaway. He flashed in front of him and sliced off the criminal's left hand. Roman howled in pain as Alex pushed him onto the ground and held the tip of his sword to Roman's neck. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded.

"You can tell Cinder that I'm coming for her. Tell her that she will regret not killing me when she had the chance. Also if you ever hurt one of my friends again I will not hesitate to end your pathetic life" With that Alex turned and walked away from the criminal with a smile on his face. Alex sensed Torchwick coming at him before he turned around and blocked his cane with _Vindictus. "_You really don't listen do you" Alex snarled as he sliced off the man's left forearm. "Now do you really want to lose your arm all the way to the shoulder." Roman glared at him and turned to run to his airship.

Alex returned to Ruby's side and scooped the unconscious girl into his arms and walked over to Blake and her faunus friend. He gave the girl to Blake and said "Make sure she gets home safe". He started to walk away from the trio before the blonde faunus stopped him. "Woah you can't just act like that didn't happen. You killed those guys without hesitation and without any effort either. How the hell could you do that?"

"What's your name?"

"Sun" he said seemingly thrown off course by the question.

"Listen Sun this world is a world of kill or be killed. Killing is not fun and killing is not right but it is necessary. As for how all you need to know is that I trained. I would appreciate if you and Blake would just forget about what happened here tonight" and with that he made his exit.

* * *

Alex opened the room to his dorm and immediately noticed that something was off. He noticed a green jacket on one of the beds with the word hope written on the back. Just then the door to the bathroom opened and out walked a boy he had never seen before. "Who the hell are you?" Alex said drawing his sword from his sheathe. The boy just simply looked away and almost seemed to try and make himself smaller.

"Ahh I see you've met our new student" He heard Ozpin say from behind him.

"Who is he and why is he in my room?" Alex snarled angrily.

"Alex Lace meet Ryan WhinterLight, your new roommate"

* * *

**Hey guys I hope you like the chapter. Leave a review favorite and follow if you want. They are greatly appreciated. Sorry for the delay I had internet problems**


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